Game Notes

Game 2 • South Alabama Jaguars (1-0) at North Carolina State Wolfpack (0-1)
November 15, 2015 • 5 p.m. CST • PNC Arena (19,700) • Raleigh, N.C. • Legends Classic

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Matthew Graves (Butler, 1998)
Record at USA: 24-41 (3rd year)
Overall Record: Same

N.C. State
Mark Gottfried (Alabama, 1987)
Record at NCST: 92-53 (4th year)
Overall Record: 370-208 (19th year)

LAST GAME
South Alabama rallied from a first-half deficit to defeat Auburn-Montgomery 88-68. North Carolina State fell 85-68 at home to William & Mary.

NEXT GAME
The Jaguars travel to LSU Thursday. The Wolfpack host IUPUI Wednesday.

ON THE AIR
TV: ESPNU; Mike Couzens (pxp), Len Elmore (color)
Radio: 710 AM WNTM; J.D. Byars (pxp)
On the web: WatchESPN (video); www.iheart.com/live/newsradio-710-wntm-1 (audio)

RANKINGS (end of season)
USA: #271 RPI, #291 Sagarin
NCST: #32 RPI, #42 Sagarin

THE SERIES
Sunday will be the first meeting between the two schools.

OPENING TIP
South Alabama is 1-0 for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons.

USA is 10-37 all-time in road openers and has lost 19 of its last 21.

The Jaguars last defeated a member of the ACC in the 2012-13 season opener, a 76-71 win at No. 25/24 Florida State.

USA allowed AUM to shoot 43.6 percent (17-39) from the floor and 47.1 percent (8-17) from 3-point land in the first half, but just 31.0 percent (9-29) from the field after halftime and missed all 13 attempts from behind the arc.

On the other end of the floor, the Jaguars converted 60 percent (18-30) of their field-goal attempts in the second half.

USA has scored 81 points or more in three of its last five games dating back to the end of last year.

Junior Nick Stover, in his first game since the 2013-14 season after transferring from Loyola Marymount, set a new career high with 17 points and tied his personal best with nine rebounds. He shot 6-for-12 from the floor and 3-for-5 from 3-point land. Stover averaged 4.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 62 career games at LMU.

Junior Tafari Whittingham came off the bench to post career-high totals of 14 points and seven rebounds. Twelve of those points came in the second half as he made all five of his field-goal attempts. He missed all but five games last year with a knee injury and received a medical redshirt.

Senior Ken Williams recorded his 12th career 20-point game — 11th since the start of last season — vs. AUM with a team-best 21 points. He moved up to a tie for sixth at USA in career 3s with 145 after hitting three times from behind the arc and needs eight to tie for fifth.

Williams was named First Team Preseason All-Sun Belt in October.

Williams is the current holder of the school's freshman (55) and sophomore (87) 3-point record—the 87 treys are fifth-most in school history.

Georgi Boyanov, who had three double-doubles last season, second-most on the team, just missed one in the exhibition with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds. In the regular-season opener, he pulled down a game-best 10 rebounds. That was his fourth career double-digit rebound performance.

In 2014-15, Barrington Stevens III became just the second player in school history to have two seasons with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.0 or greater, and first since 1981. His assist total of 104 is the highest by a Jaguar since 2007.

Stevens had nine points and five rebounds vs. AUM, and tied his career high with three steals.

Williams and Nikola Marijan are the only two USA freshman to start a season opener in the last five years.